Stolen Home Crime Ring Busted
Updated 10:54 AM EST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
Harry Hairston and the NBC 10 Investigators was the only team there when police raided the home of a man police say allegedly headed up a house stealing crime ring early Wednesday morning.
And the NBC 10 Investigators were also exclusively on the scene when police arrested another person they say was a suspected member.
"These modern day robber barons made hundreds of thousands of dollars on the dreams they killed of unsuspecting and unsophisticated citizens," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham told reporters Wednesday.
The District Attorney says the crime ring forged fake deeds to more than 80 abandoned homes over three years and then sold them to unknowing low income buyers.
The D.A. says some of the homes sold for a little as $2,000 to $3,000 dollars.
“Because these victims were unsuspecting that when the sellers demanded cash the buyers paid in cash,” Abraham said.
Police say the crime ring even used an abandoned home to setup a fake real estate company to scam their victims.
“They never knew until it was too late that what they bought was nothing,” said Abraham.
Authorities say the investigation started three years after a family came to then complaining they bought a house but couldn't get the title.
That led investigators to Troy Baylor who claimed he was the CEO of BNB Realty. The NBC 10 Investigators first met Baylor in 2006.
He said he was a Philadelphia Police chaplain and community activist, dedicated to fighting crime in his neighborhood. But it turns out crime is what he’s been committing since 1997.
Court records show Baylor has pleaded guilty to stalking, harassment, simple assault and impersonating a public servant.
The D.A. says Baylor and his 14 co-defendants all face nine felony charges related to house stealing and two misdemeanors.
Police say complaints from the ring suspect them of duping their victims out of at $400,000.
Police are still looking for one of the leaders, Troy Baylor and several other suspects, however the District Attorney expects some to turn themselves in this week, Abraham said.
First Published: Feb 11, 2009 8:24 PM EST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
